This morning, I was reading a book with my kid. It's one of the Little Critter stories by Mercer Mayer, titled "When I get bigger".

I was struck by the sheer number of things that don't actually apply and will likely never apply to my kid. For instance . . .

a paper route (can't remember the last time I saw a kid delivering papers on his or her bike)

dialing a telephone

ordering from a paper catalogue, writing a letter to request your order, and having it come in the mail

wearing a watch (increasingly uncommon for kids)

roller skates (okay, there are roller blades)

a portable radio (we stream radio via the Internet to an amplifier dock)

All these things are in the story. You find yourself saying things like, "back in the old days, most people had newspapers delivered to their door" or "telephones used to have wheels that you turned to call somebody".

I realize that some people still have home delivery, but that's mostly a 'for now' thing and I doubt it can or will continue. In the case of watches, we still occasionally wear them, but it's often a fashion statement rather than as a useful object for telling the time.

The past is still with us, but it's fading, and it's strangely to explain to a little kid.

Let's start with a little history, shall we? From the Wikipedia entry on St. Valentine: "The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs."

Okay, so the guy we call St. Valentine probably never existed; there's a lot of that going around [ insert appropriate smiley here ]. Don't let that get you down. Even if there wasn't really a St. Valentine, today is a good day to show, and tell, your special person how much you love them. You should probably do that every day, but today, they wait for those three lovely words, "I love you." Don't forget.

Oh, come on . . . Even if you think it's all complete commercial hogwash and yet another excuse to pry you from your hard earned dollars, taking a day off from the cynicism to focus on the people or person you love is always a good idea. Combine it with a hugs and kisses, a great meal, a nice bottle of wine, and a little Belgian chocolate and hey, you've won me over!

So now it's my turn. Today, as with every day, I recognize the unbelievable good luck that brought me and my lovely lady, Sally Tomasevic, together. Sally . . . when you asked me out back in September 1989, you changed my life, transforming the loneliness of those days into a passionate friendship combined with a deep respect and an all-encompassing love I'd only imagined, but never truly believed was possible. So today, in this third decade of our life together, with two wonderful kids squeezing themselves in between the two of us, let me reaffirm that wonderful thing that is the original 'us', the couple that's still there at the heart of what is now our family.